ENGLISH M.A. 36 HOURS

Total Hours: 30 + 6 hours Thesis

Advising: College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences,
Department of Literature and Philosophy,
Dr. John Humma,
Georgia Southern University,
P.O. Box 8023,
Statesboro, GA 30460,
(912) 681-5779,
FAX: (912) 681-0653

Admission Requirements

Regular

• Completed requirements for the Bachelor's degree in a college accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting associations
• A 3.0 (4.0 scale) cumulative grade point average or higher on all undergraduate work.
• A score of no less than 550 on the Verbal section of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE).
• An undergraduate major or the equivalent in the proposed field of study.
• Two letters of recommendation by persons familiar with the applicant's academic experience.

Provisional
A minimum score of 450 on the Verbal section of the GRE accompanied by a better than 2.75 (4.0 scale) cumulative grade point average on undergraduate college work. Students who do not meet provisional requirements may appeal to a departmental committee of graduate faculty members for admission.


Program of Study
Candidates for the M.A. in English must complete 30 hours of graduate courses, including English 7111 and 7121 and at least 18 hours (six three-hour courses) on the seminar (6000-7000) level. Students may take up to six hours from the following courses offered by the Department of Writing and Linguistics: WRIT 5130G, WRIT 5230G, WRIT 5330G, WRIT 5430G, WRIT 5530G, WRIT 5540G, and WRIT 7130. To complete the degree, students may choose one of the following two options.

• Thesis Option

In cooperation with a thesis advisor and committee, the student will write an M.A. thesis (minimum of 60 pages, not counting Notes and Works Cited). The student must pass an oral examination consisting of a discussion of the thesis and of questions related to it. In depth and scope, the thesis must demonstrate originality in research as well as independent and critical judgement in interpreting materials. The major professor shall supervise the research, direct the writing of the thesis, and approve the thesis in its final form. Prior to final approval, the members of the thesis committee will have read the thesis. Both second and third readers shall report all comments to the major professor. See the Graduate Student Manual for additional Thesis information. Prior to beginning the thesis, the students should have the supervisor complete a Thesis Prospectus Form to be approved by the department and the Graduate College..

• Non-Thesis Option

After completing thirty hours of course work, students who do not plan to enter a Ph.D. program may opt to take two additional courses at the 6000-7000 level instead of writing the thesis. They will prepare one of the papers (of fifteen-twenty pages) that they write in those courses to present before a faculty forum, followed by a question and answer session. The paper and the presentation will be assessed by a panel consisting of the student's teacher for the course and two other professors.

Other Program Requirements

Language Requirement

All degree programs leading to the Master of Arts degree require a reading knowledge of a foreign language. Either French, German, or Spanish is generally required, but another language may be specified by the major professor when the latter is appropriate to the area of research proposed by the student in the thesis prospectus. A foreign national may not use English or his or her native language to satisfy the language requirements.

Georgia Southern University offers the following two options for graduate students who need to complete a foreign language requirement:

• The language requirement may be satisfied by a grade of "C" or better in the fourth course of a college-level foreign language that is approved by the student's advisor.
• A student primarily interested in reading research in his or her field should prepare to take the Foreign Language Graduate Reading Exam administered by the Department of Foreign Languages. The exam is given during the third week of each quarter. The student must register for the exam with the Department of Foreign Languages no later than the last week of the quarter before the test is to be taken.

The examination will be based on material selected in advance by the student and approved by the examiner. The student can select either a book of at least 150 pages or several articles totaling at least 75 pages, excluding graphs, tables, etc. The exam will have a limit of two hours, during which time the student will be expected to prepare a reasonably accurate written translation of several passages selected by the examiner. The use of dictionaries and grammars during the exam will be permitted. The examining committee for foreign languages shall report "pass" or "fail" to the College of Graduate Studies.

Seminars

ENGL 6090 - Seminar in Selected Topics

ENGL 6630 - Seminar in Medieval Literature

ENGL 6631 - Seminar in Shakespeare

ENGL 6632 - Seminar in Literature of the English Renaissance

ENGL 6633 - Seminar in Eighteenth-Century and Restoration Lit

ENGL 6634 - Seminar in Major Authors

ENGL 6635 - Seminar in Women's and Gender Studies

ENGL 6637 - Seminar in Criticism and Theory

ENGL 7630 - Seminar in World and Comparative Literature

ENGL 7631 - Seminar in the British Novel

ENGL 7632 - Seminar in the American Novel

ENGL 7633 - Seminar in Nineteenth-Century British Lit

ENGL 7635 - Seminar in Nineteenth-Century American Lit

ENGL 7637 - Seminar in Twentieth-Century American Literature

ENGL 7638 - Seminar in Twentieth-Century Poetry

ENGL 7999 - Thesis

A student may repeat a seminar once when it is taught with a different subtitle.